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October 2008 - Each month, Hasbro will answer five questions about their Marvel and Spider-Man products. Here are the latest questions and answers:

1. Is pricing on Marvel Legends going up (staying up from what it has been) on the next assortments? The prices went up for the Fin Fang Foom and Red Hulk waves, but are future prices going to the same as those? (The Fin Fang Foom wave price was just for that wave, but now people are getting worried when they see that the Red Hulk wave price is the same.)

Answer: Pricing is ultimately set by retailers, but in general, if you compare the price of Marvel Legends to other 6" BAF lines in the marketplace, you should find that the pricing is comparable. It can also be said that price is related to the size of the actual Build A Figure character. For example, in order to offer a Build a Figure as large as FOOM (the largest Legends BAF ever), the price per figure simply had to be higher than standard BAF prices.

2. Are Heroscape expansions still being made? Is the Marvel Heroscape expansion still coming? (Back in a July Q&A round, the answer to this was "We will send you an answer to this question soon!")

Answer: WE ARE LOOKING INTO THIS AND WILL GET BACK TO YOU SHORTLY. (RTM adds: oops, our bad.)

3. Comic packs for the 3 3/4" Marvel line seem to be a natural -- should we expect them?

Answer: We agree completely that comic packs would be a natural fit. We're excited about the launch of Marvel Universe in 2009 and the bottom line is that you're probably going to see all sorts of fun stuff in this line.

4. Will the ARES wave be available to other retail outlets? And if not... where are the online stores getting cases of figures from?

Answer: The Ares wave is a Wal-Mart exclusive only. Online retailers who are posting the Ares figures for sale would most likely be re-selling the product.

5. In the last Q&A session, you gave the collecting community the assurance that retailer exclusive waves for Marvel Legends would be readily available and easy to come by for consumers. There was some truth to that as I was able to build my Red Hulk figure after hitting multiple Targets over a few weeks, and I'm still seeing figures from the wave about. The same however cannot be said about Wal*Mart, which locally had received its Ares wave and was sold out in less than a 4-day period. It was through dumb luck that I got my complete set, but others have not been so fortunate, and many reports are confirming that Wal*Mart has these items listed as "non-replenish", a designation supposedly assigned to seasonal items and exclusives where local stores cannot make requests for re-orders, and instead have to take what is given to them, IF it even arrives in the first place. Now obviously you have no control over the distribution of these exclusives, but I'd like to use my question to hear from you guys as to what you think about this situation, especially when you consider that some of you are customers too.

Answer: The first wave of inventory sold through very quickly and reinforcements are on the way. Additional inventory has already shipped to Target & Wal-Mart & our expectation is that both waves will be readily available for the holiday season at their respective exclusive retailers.

I get the feeling that the Marvel 3.75" team has eyes bigger than its stomach, they are planning the line as if it's the same hit sensation as Star Wars without making sure first. I can't imagine it failing as bad as Mattel's DC IH line, but I don't want another Indiana Jones debacle on our hands where the line struggles and gets canceled too early with so much product announced but shelved.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

I get the feeling that the Marvel 3.75" team has eyes bigger than its stomach, they are planning the line as if it's the same hit sensation as Star Wars without making sure first. I can't imagine it failing as bad as Mattel's DC IH line, but I don't want another Indiana Jones debacle on our hands where the line struggles and gets canceled too early with so much product announced but shelved.

It's a very good point JT. I wonder if they're looking at the success of their previous Marvel lines (and Toy Biz's) to gauge the prospects. Plus they're doing a lot more buck recycling than with Indy.

I haven't seen them in my area. But then.... my Wal-Marts seem to be hopeless when it comes to exclusive waves of Marvel Legends. I never saw the 2-Packs that they had last year there. Thankfully the only one I really want from the Ares wave is Guardian.

I got very lucky while looking for Wally World exclusive Halo figures for Sal and walked right into the lot of them. I grabbed Guardian, Flamed-on Human Torch, Ultimate War Machine, and Heroes Reborn Iron Man. The only one I was really unhappy with was Heroes Reborn Iron Man, but someday, he's just going to get lost in an armory diorama, so it doesn't matter too much.

Guardian is pretty cool. I'm looking to grab a second one if I ever see one. Aside from his paint, he's a fairly plain figure with a ToyBiz body and would make a great base for customs.

I saw about a case's worth of the WM wave put out, not that it helps me any, though. I don't want a single figure in the wave. The only ML figure I really want that's out is Tiger Stripe Wolvie from the Rulk wave, and I still can't find anything from that wave aside from one single, solitary, depressing sighting of a lone black Spidey.

Spotted the WM wave at two stores tonight; both stores had A LOT of them. One store had them on a side counter and in the aisle while the other had them on an endcap in some sort of cardboard display, a few rows of them.

I didn't care for the wave when it was announced and my attitude didn't change when I saw them in stores.

"Woke up at 9.55am. Soon as I woke up, I looked at Suzanne and she looked at me. I said, 'Did I tell you about the immune system?' Suzanne starting laughing, I said, 'it's amazing.' She said, 'Not now.'"